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Thursday, 4 December 2014

Kaspersky - Regin Malware Copy 1999

The Russian anti-virus firm Kaspersky Lab has a copy of the advanced Regin-espionage malware found in 1999. This involves the oldest copy that is known up to now. Earlier, a specimen was labeled in 2003 as a senior. The existence of Regin was recently made ​​public by several anti-virus companies.

Regin Platform Diagram

An analyst at Kaspersky Lab named the malware even more sophisticated than Stuxnet . Yet there was also criticism of the anti-virus companies as long as they would have waited to disclose the information. The Russian anti-virus company this refers to a comparison of Sean Sullivan from F-Secure. He likened the search for Regin with the work of paleontologists who found the bones of an unknown dinosaur. Everyone has a bone, but the entire skeleton is missing.

In the case of Regin Kaspersky Lab discovered in 2012 damaged "bone" of a hitherto unknown malware. Figuring out the size of a particular campaign or espionage malware family can sometimes take months or years, the company notes. As it sometimes worked with other parties who may have other parts of the malware possession. "It makes little sense to publish your discovery until you can confirm that the samples really are big and dangerous," said the Russian anti-virus company.

Most Regin copies date from 2007, 43 pieces in total, followed by 35 copies in 2009. Kaspersky also addresses accusations that anti-virus companies, the existence of Regin would have concealed. "We have never been asked by a customer or government agency to whitelist certain malware or to pass through. We would never meet such a request, no matter who it comes from."